My Thoughts on Story 009 – “Planet of Giants”

This was an interesting story. It was a small, three-part story in the middle of a long set of very long stories. It was, in many ways, a strange story, though certainly not a bad one, with great production values, and an interesting plot.

And surely this is the last we’ve seen of giant insects!

I’m giving this story a solid B+. It was very well-written, with a clear antagonist that the TARDIS crew had to deal with. Someone who was not only a threat to those immediately around him, but also a threat to the world as a whole. This wasn’t quite the Mad Scientist type of story that the series would become famous for in later years (check “Robot” for an example), but it still touched on some of the same points.

It was also interesting to see the old series trying to do a bit of social commentary. Silent Spring was published not long before this story aired, and it’s clear that there was some inspiration.

And I really can’t say enough about the sets or the SFX. Yes, the effects are a bit dated, but they hold up reasonably well, and the sets are just terrific. It’s clear that a lot of thought and effort was put into them.

Really, I have no complaints here. Everyone was given something to do, none of the characters were idiots, and the story flowed very well. Overall a very solid, very entertaining story.